Rodney Scott, the former chief of the United States Border Patrol, said during a Fox News interview on Tuesday evening that the Biden administration has been paying contractors millions of dollars a day to not build the border wall along with U.S.-Mexico border, even as the administration faces an illegal immigration crisis.
When asked by Fox News anchor Bret Baier about what actions the Biden administration took on the border wall after they took over in January, Scott responded that they issued a presidential proclamation that put in place 60 day pause on the construction.
“We’re supposed to do an in depth study and then come up with a plan going forward,” Scott said. “As Border Patrol did its part, everything, that was done within about two weeks, several briefings later, there really had not been any decisions made, it went well beyond the 60 days. Many of those projects today are just still on hold. So we’re paying contractors, for a while it was almost $5 million a day between DOD and DHS.”
“Wait, $5 million a day to not build the wall?” Baier asked.
“To not build a wall,” Scott answered.
“There are stacks and stacks of border wall panels, there’s hundreds of miles of fiber optic cabling, there’s hundreds of cameras that were being installed with that, that are just sitting, there’s no action being taken,” Scott continued.
“So what do they say when the briefing is well, this really helps us, if we could just plug this in, if we could just finish this thing, what did they say?” Baier asked.
“We’re not building more wall. There’s no conversation,” Scott responded. “There’s no there’s no adult dialogue, if you will. It’s just it’s just a black and white decision. The administration said we’re not doing it. So we’re not doing it. That money is just trickling away to those contractors for not doing work each day.”
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TRANSCRIPT:
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Talk about the border wall. What were the instructions after the transition of administrations when it came to the wall?
RODNEY SCOTT, FORMER BORDER PATROL CHIEF: So a presidential proclamation came out and it was a 60 day pause that is publicly available. We’re supposed to do an in depth study and then come up with a plan going forward. As Border Patrol did its part, everything, that was done within about two weeks, several briefings later, there really had not been any decisions made, it went well beyond the 60 days. Many of those projects today are just still on hold. So we’re paying contractors, for a while it was almost $5 million a day between DOD and DHS–
BAIER: Just to not–
SCOTT: To not build the border wall.
BAIER: Wait. $5 million a day to not build the wall?
SCOTT: To not build a wall.
BAIER: Even though they have all the stuff, they have–
SCOTT: There are stacks and stacks of border wall panels. There’s hundreds of miles of fiber optic cabling. There’s hundreds of cameras that were being installed with that, that are just sitting, there’s no action being taken.
BAIER: So what do they say when the briefing is well, this really helps us, if we could just plug this in, if we could just finish this thing, what did they say?
SCOTT: We’re not building more wall. There’s no conversation. There’s no there’s no adult dialogue, if you will. It’s just it’s just a black and white decision. The administration said we’re not doing it. So we’re not doing it. That money is just trickling away to those contractors for not doing work each day.
BAIER: What is the Border Patrol morale?
SCOTT: It’s struggling right now. It really is struggling right now. Obviously, this administration doesn’t really support border security. The current leadership within Border Patrol is doing everything they can to keep the guys focused that the mission matters.
BAIER: When you heard President Biden say this–
[START VIDEO]
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT: It was horrible what you see, as you saw, to see people treated like they did: horses nearly running them over and people being strapped. It’s outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay. They will be — an investigation is underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.
[END VIDEO]
BAIER: What did you think?
SCOTT: I was dumbfounded. To take a word from somebody else, I was outraged that all of a sudden due process goes out the window. Border Security, protects legal immigration. And those guys know it. That’s what they’ve been doing. And all of a sudden now, due process applies to everybody else, but not them? And then all of a sudden our horse patrol doing what they’re supposed to do, which is prevent people from illegally entering our home, are now the villains.
BAIER: So it’s frustrating?
SCOTT: It’s very frustrating.
BAIER: And do you hear that from guys?
SCOTT: I’ve taken quite a few phone calls. It’s very frustrating, the early retirements are going through the roof within Border Patrol. It worries me tremendously. We’re losing a lot of experience.
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Source: Dailywire
